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Vermonstrosity t1_ixm4i78 wrote

I know this isn’t what you asked. But it is something that helped me in the long run.

We installed a wood burning stove a while back. For a small house (not sure your house SF) you can get through the winter with 3-4 cords of wood. They are about $325 per green cord right now. You do need to order well in advance. But it’s much less expensive than heating oil, kerosene, or propane. Or you can just do it to reduce your oil bill as a supportive heat system. Also there is cost to install. But if you are in it for the long haul, it’s a good way to reduce your exposure to the heating oil volatility.

Sometimes people have land too (which we are fortunate enough to have) and I can split my own, as time permits. Could be another option to do your own on your land or if you have a great neighbor.

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Umbert360 t1_ixm8qs1 wrote

We bought our house a few years ago and the previous owners installed a Yukon Husky furnace. It’s a combo oil/ wood furnace and it’s amazing. It’s forced hot air so it has a blower fan, and is hooked to a thermostat. When you have the time, you keep a fire going in the fire box and it sends the heat to all the registers in the house. If there’s no fire or it drops below a certain temp, the oil kicks on automatically and keeps it at the set temp. We’ve had to open windows when it really gets going

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InvisibleGrbgTrckJry t1_ixmj1ev wrote

We had a similar solution in Afghanistan. Winters in the mountains there are...well, bad, and the HVAC units for our huts were notoriously ill-tempered (how else were those maintenance contractors gonna get paid? 🙄). So we bought an ancient British-made wood/coal stove off one of the locals when their headman died and his house needed to be demolished. I had the engineers rig it up with a vent fan and bam: no heating problems all winter. Popped a pinch of C4 and a log in there when the HVAC failed and we stayed toasty enough to have to douse it once in a while. Say what you want about Victorian England, but those assholes knew how to make a heater!

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teachlikeascientist t1_ixq05bu wrote

There is some tax benefits to buying wood stoves as well which reduce the cost.

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